From the category archives:

Numbers

The Inflation Conspiracy? EAT ME

CBSMoneyWatch published a piece of screed this week on the Inflation Conspiracy pretty much mocking and patronizing people who question the value or validity of the government’s official measure of inflation. The author somewhat misrepresents the intent of mainstream inflation critics by saying they “believe that somehow there’s an inflation conspiracy going on, and the […]

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Hedge Funds Using Twitter Traffic – Can You Exploit This?

There’s been a lot of chatter lately about sophisticated software that uses Twitter and other social networking chatter about particular stocks to predict future moves. This takes the Efficient Market Theory to a whole new level since usually news becomes public during the course of a press release, a posting to a website or a […]

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Store Theft Will Cost You $423 This Year…and Other Hidden Costs in Life

According to a recent Global Retail Theft Barometer (report), Americans will shell out an additional $423 per family this year to account for the theft that occurs throughout the supply chain in various retail shopping segments. This number for America is higher than the $186 global average, but I guess that shouldn’t come as a […]

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Calculating “Your Number”. Mine is $4.9 Million – Or Is It?

The blogosphere was all atwitter today on an ING tool that has you calculate “your number” – how much you’ll need the day you retire to live the lifestyle you desire with a given income, retirement date and life expectancy. While I appreciate a bank telling you that you need to start saving more (a […]

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Results: Energy Tax Credit Toward New Efficient Central Air Unit is Surprisingly…Inefficient

Last month, I shared my analysis on my considerations for taking advantage of the Energy Tax Credit and getting 30% off the cost of a new Central Air Unit since our house if 15 years old and we’ll eventually need one anyway. Well, there are various ways to look at large purchases like this, ranging […]

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PEG Ratio: Why It’s More Relevant than P/E for Stocks

While many individual investors are familiar with the conventional Price to Earnings (P/E) ratio, the PEG ratio isn’t cited nearly as often but it really puts a stock’s valuation in the proper context. While a P/E ratio will tell you whether a stock is “highly priced” just based on a forward earnings expectations or trailing […]

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The Crap We Buy Our Kids Equates to $100,000 at 21 Years Old

photo credit: Kate Penn | Bay City Times A buddy of mine mentioned an interview he saw with the author of a new book The Story of Stuff: How Our Obsession with Stuff Is Trashing the Planet, Our Communities, and Our Health-and a Vision for Change. The premise is that Americans spend way more time […]

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If You’re Getting Ahead, isn’t Splitting Hairs Counter-Productive?

At the risk of contradicting some of my earlier posts when pointing out the optimal way to approach particular financial scenarios sometimes it’s best to instead say, “Just Tackle the Issue Regardless! Worry about details later“. When it comes to personal finances, if analysis paralysis sets in and you worry so much about finding the […]

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How Does Society Value Additional Time for Your Dying Loved One?

There is an excellent article in this week’s BusinessWeek written by the widow of a man who fought a long and courageous battle with cancer. What differentiated this article from other similar accounts is that the article stepped through a very detailed financial account of just how costly it is to sustain a terminal patient […]

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